HomeMy WebLinkAbout02/17/1998 Regular Council Meeting MinutesMINUTES OF REGULAR COUNCIL MEETING
MARANA TOWN COUNCIL
FEBRUARY 17,1998
PLACE AND DATE
Marana Town Hall, February 17, 1998
I. CALL TO ORDER
By Mayor Ora Harn at 7:05 P.M.
ll. PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE
Led by Mayor Ora Harn
III. INVOCATION
Led by Mike Reuwsaat
IV. ROLL CALL
COUNCIL
Ora Harn
Mayor
Bobby Sutton, Jr.
Vice Mayor
Ed Honea
Council Member
Herb Kai
Council Member
Sherry Millner
Council Member, excused late
Michael Reuwsaat
Council Member
Roxanne Ziegler
Council Member
STAFF
Hurvie Davis
Town Manager
Michael Hein
Assistant Town Manager
Jocelyn Entz
Asst. to Town Manager
Dan Hochuli
Town Attorney
Sandy Groseclose
Town Clerk
Diane Mangialardi
Deputy Town Clerk
Brad DeSpain
Utilities Director
Jerry Flannery
Planning Director/Annexing
Dick Gear
Annexation Coordinator
V. APPROVAL OF AGENDA
A motion was made by Mike Reuwsaat, seconded by Ed Honea, to approve the
agenda, as written. The motion carried 6/0.
VI. ACCEPTANCE OF MINUTES
A motion was made by Mike Reuwsaat, seconded by Herb Kai, to accept the
minutes of Regular Council Meeting, February 3, 1998. The motion carried 6/0.
VII. CALL TO THE PUBLIC/ANNOUNCEMENTS
Jocelyn Entz: It has been my pleasure, at the suggestion of Mr. Davis last year,
that we follow up on getting involved in some regional activities to promote the
image of the Town and get some more visibility. We budgeted, last year, to fund
a float for the Tucson Rodeo Parade. We are doing that this year in conjunction
with the Marana High School AG Department. I have been working with Mr. Ted
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DeSpain and about 12 students over there. They are very excited and have a
wonderful float. I strongly recommend that if you had not intended to go to the
parade you do go and see what we have done. If not, we hope to get an entry
into the Founder's Day Parade. We will need to find a cart and horses, or some
other method of pulling a cart, so they can put their creative float together for
Founder's Day. If you attend the parade, look for the Town of Marana/Marana
High School float. Thank you.
Ed Honea: Tomorrow is the monthly Chamber Luncheon. The State Mine
Inspector is going to be the guest speaker. Then there is going to be a tour of
the Portland Cement facility. The dinner is going to be at Portland Cement. It
should be very entertaining.
Mayor Harn: Sharon Bronson has asked us to help her have a Town Hall
meeting here in Marana. I assume that is in the Council Chambers ("Yes it is"),
on March 11th at 7:00 PM. This is the first time we have had a member of the
Board of Supervisors come out to Marana and do a "Town Hall." I would suggest
you get together with your neighbors and come out and really support this. I
really appreciate Supervisor Bronson making this effort to come into our
community. Please, let's support her when she comes on March 11th. Another
thing I would like to bring to the Council's attention is that I have been working on
an award to bring to the Council. The City of Tucson has a copper letter that
they give out as an award to people who have done something special for the
City of Tucson. I have been working on a project with the staff to try to bring
something innovative to the Town of Marana. The staff and I have put together
what we call the Marana Cotton Sampler Award. Samplers were little of pieces
of art that women used to make, in the older days, to show their expertise in
certain things, especially embroidery. They would hang them on the wall as part
of their first home. I thought we would call our letter a sampler instead of a
letter. That is open to any of your decisions, as to what you would like to do.
Here is what we have come up with, I want to show the audience. We will have
a cholla stick at the top and bottom with a rope to hang it by. We will then put
the date, the Mayor's signature and the Clerk's signature. The name of the
person receiving the award will be put up at the top. I am going to suggested we
do a cotton blossom down in the corner. We may have to put "cotton blossom"
on there because people may not recognize a cotton blossom. We have been
working on this and I wanted to bring it to the Council's attention. It is not a
finished product, yet, and is still open for some suggestions and ideas that you
might have. I think it is an innovative way to express our appreciation and have
something that is really attractive so when we give it to someone they will feel
proud about having it and hanging it in their office. I think the word "Marana"
needs to be a little more centered. If you have any suggestions or concerns
from the Council, I would be glad to hear them. This will cost approximately
$13.00, maybe a little more, and we can not buy a plaque for that. With the
permission of the Council, I would like to give the first award to a group of ladies
who worked in our community many years back. They were called the Cotton
Blossoms and they were the wives of the many ranchers who settled our
community, the founders of our community. The Cotton Blossoms had a little
club and they raised money for all sorts of territorial projects in the community.
With your permission, I would like to have this completed and have the first
Cotton Sampler given to the Cotton Blossoms at Founder's Day. We are trying
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to get them all together and get them out at Founder's Day. Many of them are
not around any more, maybe some are here, though.
VIII. STAFF REPORTS
No action taken.
IX. GENERAL ORDER OF BUSINESS
A. Consent
1. Arizona Criminal Justice Commission - Marana Municipal Court
Grant Application Request
2. Resolution No. 98-12, The Bluffs at RedHawk - Request for Approval
of a 122 Lot Single Family Detached Home Subdivision Final Plat on
47.9 Acres Located at the Northeast Corner of Dove Mountain
Boulevard and Moore Road in the South '/z of Section 25, Township
11 South, Range 12 East. Property Owner/Applicant is Cottonwood
Properties, Inc. 3567 E. Sunrise Drive #219, Tucson, Arizona 85718
3. Resolution No. 98-14; Continental Ranch Parcels 38 & 40 North and
South, Phase I - Request for Approval of a 97 Lot Single Family
Detached Home Subdivision Final Plat on 24.23 Acres Located in a
Portion of the South % of Section 16 and the North '/z of Section 21,
Township 12 South, Range 12 East. Property Owner/Applicant is
Del Webb's Coventry Homes Construction of Tucson, 1565 E.
Rancho Vistoso Boulevard, Oro Valley, Arizona 85737
4. Resolution No. 98-13; Continental Ranch Sunflower Phase II -
Request for Approval of a 134 Lot Single Family Detached Home
Subdivision Final Plat on 32.99 Acres Located in a Portion of the
Southwest '/4 of Section 16, Township 12 East. Property
Owner/Applicant is Del Webb's Coventry Homes Construction of
Tucson, 1565 E. Rancho Vistoso Boulevard, Oro Valley, Arizona
85737
5. Resolution No. 98-15; Gallery Golf Course Maintenance Facility -
Request for Approval of a Development Plan for the Maintenance
Facility of the Gallery Golf Course Located South of Dove Mountain
Boulevard in the South '/2 of the Northwest '/4 of Section 24,
Township 11 South, Range 12 East. Applicant is Palo Verde
Partners, 5141 N. 40th St. #200, Phoenix, AZ 85018
A motion was made by Vice Mayor Sutton, seconded by Ed Honea, to
approve the Consent Agenda, as written. Motion carried 6/0.
B. PUBLIC HEARING; Resolution No. 98-17; Cellular One Conditional Use
Permit - Request by Cellular One for a Conditional Use Permit to Allow
a 150 foot Lattice Tower in Conjunction with a Mobile Telephone
Switching Office (MTSO) on Property Located East of 1-10, West of
Thornydale Road, and North of Orange Grove Road in the Southwest '/4
of the Southeast '/4, of Section 6, Township 13 South, Range 13 East,
Assessor's Parcel Number 101-05-026L. Applicant is Cellular One, 988
S. Cherry Avenue, Tucson, AZ 85719
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Assessor's Parcel Number 101-05-026L. Applicant is Cellular One, 988
S. Cherry Avenue, Tucson, AZ 85719
Jerry Flannery: This is a Public Hearing and the applicant is, I believe, in
the audience. Per our new Cellular Tower Code, recently approved by the
Council, this type of issue must come before the Planning Commission and
the Town Council. This is a 150 foot tower and located directly behind the
PetsMart by Costco and the Practice Tee. It is located closer to the freeway
so it does not obstruct any views. There is a major facility that Cellular One
is planning at this location. It consists of a 15,000 square foot masonry
building, a mobile telephone switching office and the cellular tower. The
cellular tower does require the CUP and, therefore, this was processed
through the Planning Commission on January 14, 1998, and is here tonight
for approval and action.
There were no comments from the public.
Mayor Harn: We will now close the Public Hearing.
Vice Mayor Sutton: Jerry, I have a couple of questions and you can give
me your best guestimates. How tall are the current lighting structures at the
Practice Tee?
Jerry Flannery: I believe those poles are approximately 65 feet high.
Vice Mayor Sutton: The existing telephone and electric poles are around
the same height?
Jerry Flannery: The T.E.P. major line that runs along there, I believe, is
higher than that. I think it 150-200 feet, or in that area.
Vice Mayor Sutton: This would not be anything that would be standing out
above anything that is currently there. I know it is a good site, I just don't
want something sticking up that is taller than everything around it.
Jerry Flannery: You will certainly notice it, however, it is in an industrial
zone. The uses are permitted in the industrial zone, and, through the
conditional use permit process, this is allowed. It will be noticeable but it will
not stick out any more than the T.E.P. lines that run along the freeway.
There are several big billboards in the area, as well.
Vice Mayor Sutton: Do you know what height the billboards run?
Jerry Flannery: Billboards usually run between 50 and 65 feet.
Herb Kai: Gary, you described this lattice tower, do have any photos so
Council could see what it looks like? Are there antennas on top or
microwave dishes?
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boom type equipment on top. There is staff here that may have more
specifics.
Larry Hughes, Director of Engineering, Cellular One, 2125 E. Adams,
Phoenix, AZ: I thought that we had submitted some photo samples to the
staff, I was just checking with my associate and we did not bring any others
with us. I can paint a mental picture. It is a basic 3 -legged lattice tower, not
unlike some of the others you have seen in the community. It is gray in color
and matches the utility poles that go through there.
Herb Kai: Are utility poles gray or off -green? If they could match the utility
poles in color then it definitely would not stand out.
Larry Hughes: I certainly have no opposition to that, if you want to paint
them. As the staff noted, this is going to be the main hub of our
communication system. It is the brains of our system down here. We will be
relocating it from downtown Tucson. It represents a major investment. In
such, the tower itself will host a few microwave dishes to bring some of the
other sites back in.
Herb Kai: I am familiar with your Cherry Street address. Will it basically be
a tower of that sort?
Larry Hughes: Essentially, yes. It will be a little bit different design but
about that. It will be a little bit shorter. Cherry Street, 1 think, is actually
closer to 180 feet.
Mike Reuwsaat: As you know, I am not a real big fan of towers. But, I think
this is probably as good a location as can be, given the T.E.P. and so forth.
A motion was made by Mike Reuwsaat, seconded by Vice Mayor Sutton, to
approve Resolution No. 98-17. The motion carried 6/0.
C. Resolution No. 98-04; La Mirage Estates - Request for Approval of a 508
Lot Single Family Detached Home Subdivision Preliminary Plat with a 9 -
Hole Executive Golf Course on 138.27 Acres in a Portion of the North 1/2
of Section 26, Township 11 South, Range 11 East, Within the Rancho
Marana Specific Plan Area. Applicant is ICON Consultants USA, Inc.,
1870 W. Prince Road, Suite #11, Tucson, AZ 85705
Hurvie Davis: This item has been before you several times, previously
(December 16, 1997 and January 20, 1998) at which time the Council had a
number of concerns. Staff has been working with the developer and his
consultants over several meetings. Hopefully, what we have come up with is
a compromise at this stage of the development that will allow the preliminary
plat to move forward if the Council so chooses to approve it this evening.
There are various conditions that have been outlined with that approval. I
must say that it is a very difficult project to deal with, in that it is the first
project up in this part of Town. It is on the east side of the Interstate with a
railroad and hardly any infrastructure in the area, which makes it very
difficult. We have been working very positively with the developer and we
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think what we have here is something reasonable and will be acceptable to
the Council with the condition that will allow the preliminary plat to be
approved. This will give us more time to work out the very difficult issues that
have to be put in place prior to the final plat coming back for your approval.
With that, I will ask Mr. Flannery if he has anything further. The applicant is
here this evening to answer any questions you might have.
Ed Honea: I am very happy with the progress that the applicant and staff
have made on this project. I think we have made tremendous progress. It is
becoming a viable project for our community.
A motion was made by Ed Honea, seconded by Roxanne Ziegler, to
approve the Draft Resolution No. 98-04 which has two sub parts to condition
#10. The motion carried 7/0.
Vice Mayor Sutton: I have a concern with item 10 on the resolution, itself.
Prior to the occupancy of any dwelling unit in the project, there shall be
subdivision covenant requiring at least one person occupying each dwelling
unit to be 50 years of age or older. I don't know why we would require that.
In the job I am in, I deal a lot with the Federal Fair Housing Act. I called the
department today, and they said at best it is a gray area. If senior
developments are even available, you can market that way. You are not
supposed to use the words "adult," "family," "mature" or "no children." You
are not supposed to discriminate. If we put this into a resolution, we are
mandating and may be putting liability on ourselves to be in hot-water with
HUD. I would like to remove that or to know what the logic was behind us
requiring them to have that in the resolution.
Hurvie Davis: It may be that the wording is incorrect. Mr. Hochuli may need
a few minutes to think about this and maybe something like "age restricted,"
or whatever the current acceptable terminology is, could be substituted for
"50 years of age or older." Basically, what we were doing is looking at the
development, lot size and the absence of recreational facilities. If it is not an
age restricted community then we are looking at children and so forth, larger
families with small lots. We felt that was a Council concern, based on
previous expressions of concern. I would say that, at one point in time, the
developer was looking for an out. If he couldn't get the project certified for
age restricted, then he would have to come back to the Council so he had a
provision that is not in the resolution. I am not sure it is needed in there at
this point in time. Item # 11 states, "The final plat shall reflect that one (1)
acre near the clubhouse has been set aside for open space for recreation
use."
Dan Hochuli: On the resolution you are looking at, is condition #10 broken
into subsections A and B? (No.) Madame Mayor, could I ask for a short
recess, I thought the Council had been distributed a revised resolution. It
appears some of you have not. If I could have a short recess to distribute
that, I would appreciate it. Or, if you want to move on to the next item and
come back to this, we could do that.
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Mayor Harn excused Dan Hochuli and moved the meeting on to the next
item.
After item IX. D., Council continued on with item IX. C.
Vice Mayor Sutton: This is not an answer to my question, or addresses. I
do understand why he needed to get this to us. I pulled something from the
Federal Fair Housing Act off of the Internet today, I would like to read it. I am
not saying that is the type of property it should be with the smaller lots. I am
saying that with us having it written in a resolution, I think we could be putting
ourselves up for legal implications with the Federal Fair Housing Act.
Working with the company that I do, they came down on us real hard with
having some mistakes and having some printed material with us not
mandating this act. It is very serious. I am going to read part of this to see if
I can get my point across a little better.
"To avoid both civil and criminal liability, obvious words should be avoided that denote
any of the forbidden categories. Any words not so obvious have been interpreted,
liberally, by the Courts to 'violate the categories."'
Some of the words they are talking about, when you are setting up a
community are: "adult," "family," "mature," "retired," "senior citizens," "older
persons," "senior discount" and "restricted." If they want to market that way,
that is up to them and they can do so. I know in advertising, you can not
advertise for it unless you get some type of clearance for what you are
talking about. When I called them and told them what we are contemplating,
as far as the subdivision we are looking at having smaller lot sizes and it
being better that way, they said it is "gray, at best." They could come down
on us for having this there. I would suggest we remove the age restriction on
it just to remove our liability from that part of the resolution.
Dan Hochuli: Let me address the overall revised draft that has been placed
before you and then I will get to the Vice Mayor's specific concerns, if that
pleases the Council. There is a number of grammatical, typographical and
style changes to the document, some of which don't change the content of
the document. I would urge you to read the document specifically as we are
talking. I would like to point out the significant differences, there are only a
few. In item #1 it was rephrased somewhat to remove any specific provider,
the old one provided for "consulting with PAST" and now it just says
"consulting with the necessary consultants." That is a change that just
makes it easier to deal with. The more significant changes occur on page
two of your draft of the resolution, distributed to you this evening. A number
of the restrictions deal with, for instance, #3. The old version said, "An
approved waste water treatment plant would be completed prior to the
issuance of building permits." The new one refers to "occupancy permits."
The references in a few places have been changed from "building permits" to
"occupancy permits." I don't think the change to that is significant, the
concern is not that they build something, it is that something be occupied,
such as a model home, or the like, that is for a dwelling unit. The other most
significant changes are items 10 and 11. In the new item 11, the developer
was agreeable to entering into a development agreement with the Town prior
to the adoption of final plat. That anticipates part of the process. Part of
what will be covered in that development agreement will be the kinds of
issues that the Council has been talking about at the last two or three
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such as a model home, or the like, that is for a dwelling unit. The other most
significant changes are items 10 and 11. In the new item 11, the developer
was agreeable to entering into a development agreement with the Town prior
to the adoption of final plat. That anticipates part of the process. Part of
what will be covered in that development agreement will be the kinds of
issues that the Council has been talking about at the last two or three
meetings, when we discussed the alternate access and whether the Town
will participate in that and whether other developers in the area will
participate in that. For item #10, staff understood a concern and direction of
the Council, at a previous meeting, that if the project was to be an adult only
community, then additional recreation space was not necessary. However, if
it was going to be family oriented, then additional recreation space was
necessary so the kids weren't playing on the golf course. The developer
suggested the language which we have incorporated into condition #10.
That provides an alternative which we believe addresses that concern. It
provides that either it will be an age restricted community or, if it is not, then
there will be the additional recreation facilities. Regarding the Vice Mayor's
comments in that regard, the Town can not be in hot-water for the resolution,
it is the developer's problem. The Town does not have the authority to age
restrict communities, even if we wanted to. Federal law does not permit us to
do that. A developer can do that under certain conditions with certain
restrictions. It gets more complicated every year, yet more of them get
adopted every year as well. It is sort of passing the buck, but what I am
saying is that it is the developer's problem. If the developer is unable to age
restrict it and comes to the Council and says, "I can't age restrict it, under the
law, but I am still going to market to seniors," then I would say, "Build your
one acre recreational sites because we don't know if there is going to be kids
there or not." Actually, I think all we are doing with condition 10A is stating
that it is a developer's issue and if it is possible to age restrict then we don't
need additional facilities.
Vice Mayor Sutton: I am fine with that, thank you.
D. Resolution No. 98-11: Adoption of "Viewshed Preservation Plan"
Analysis I: Silverbell Road - Establishing Silverbell Road Within the
Town Limits as a Designated View Corridor
Hurvie Davis: It has been a couple of years since I started working on this.
We have had a lot of interest in Silverbell being designated as a scenic
corridor, or viewshed corridor. I am from the "old school" and I am not up to
date on the new terminology. Certainly, as you go down Silverbell Road and
look at the Tucson Mountains, it is a very scenic area. It is something that
we are very proud of in our community. If we proceeded with the adoption of
the viewshed preservation plan, hopefully, that would give us some
guidelines and regulation of power to enable us to protect that viewshed. Not
only those who are fortunate enough to have a house at the west end of any
project will be able to see the mountains, but everyone who travels Silverbell
and lives in the area or does business in the area will also be able to enjoy
that view. It is something that I think would be an asset to the community,
but there will probably be some downside to it, as well, with some
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We have had additional staff and time to be able to do this. As you can see,
a lot of work went into this and a lot of research by staff, particularly Paul
Sweum, Planner I, and an intern, Chad Hartley, who worked with us over the
summer and up to January on several projects, including this one. They
spent a number of hours in the field doing viewshed analysis. This is the first
step toward the first designation of a viewshed corridor, or plan, in the Town.
This is the basis, or the pilot, for other roads to be designated as such in the
future, if the Council so wishes. There are specific criteria that are being
developed, and are well under way for development, that will be coming to
the Council and the Planning Commission in the next several months
specifying what types of development criteria are within this viewshed. You
may have noticed that it says, "The Viewshed Preservation Plan," which is
named accordingly to umbrella all viewsheds (unlike the 'scenic route
ordinance'). It is not confined to only scenic corridors. This is in order to
think into the future even further, where we will have trails, scenic routes and
parks, not just roads. There are a number of amenities, or recreational type
facilities, in jurisdictions that you want to maintain as viewshed. The
development criteria we are developing right now pertains mostly to roads
and the viewsheds abutting the roads. However, we will in time, develop a
viewshed criteria for parks and other types of trails that won't be too
restrictive. As Mr. Davis mentioned, there will be some restriction in light of
maintaining that corridor. We want to be very careful of which ones we
choose to be corridors and which ones we don't. Staff recommends approval
and if there is any question, I have all staff that has worked on this here
tonight for any specific questions and answers.
Ed Honea: Mr. Flannery, if land on both sides of Silverbell Road, in
particular in the Town, already has specific plans or development plans, this
would not supersede anything already in those plans as far as building
heights or things of that nature?
Jerry Flannery: Specific plans, in nature, as we have discussed in the past,
are their own zoning and subdivision regulations. This, as an overlay, could
supersede that. However, we want to evaluate that very clearly and that is
why we want to make sure that our engineering and legal departments have
had time to review the development standards that staff has developed. We
have had this very conversation because, typically, when the specific plans
have been approved, they have frozen ordinances in time. One thing we will
need to discuss, when we get to the development standard stage, is if these
standards will restrict development within the specific plans that have already
been in place for whatever number of years. We will have to delve into that
question more in depth when we come up with the development standard
criteria.
Mike Reuwsaat: Jerry, it is a good document and does a good job of setting
a model for future analysis of other viewsheds. I think among members of
the Council where the rubber is going to meet the road is where the actual
strategies and restrictions come out. So, I would like to be kept up fairly early
in the process where, as you are coming into final drafts, we can look at that
and look at restrictions on existing and future development. I really want to
be brought along.
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Mike Reuwsaat: Jerry, it is a good document and does a good job of setting
a model for future analysis of other viewsheds. I think among members of
the Council where the rubber is going to meet the road is where the actual
strategies and restrictions come out. So, I would like to be kept up fairly early
in the process where, as you are coming into final drafts, we can look at that
and look at restrictions on existing and future development. I really want to
be brought along.
Jerry Flannery: I hear you loud and clear. When the drafts go through the
engineering and legal departments, you will be routed a copy immediately.
Greg Wexler, SVP Properties, 1261 West Paint Brush Place, Tucson,
AZ: I have read this and I think it is a very nice job. It is interesting but it
does not really say what restrictions they want to put on the properties. It
talks about viewsheds in areas that are sensitive. I am in agreement with the
book as far as what they are talking about, but my question is what are they
going to restrict on the properties we have in our specific plan and are
already in motion for developing; for example, Cortaro/Silverbell? I have not
been involved in any of the process. I think, as one of the major developers
out there, we would like to be brought into the loop, as well. We could be
part of the committee, if there is one. That way we could understand what is
being put on these restrictions. We have been involved with scenic corridors
in the City, the County and Oro Valley and typically, they are a nice idea but I
haven't seen them work very well. Most of the streets in the City and the
County are scenic routes and the development keeps on going. Oro Valley,
if I remember correctly, has a scenic route ordinance that is very hard to live
with. There is a very large set back as you build a taller building. In some
areas it sterilizes a lot of property, primarily the property along Oracle Road,
which is commercial property. I don't want to beleaguer this issue, but we
have a lot of questions on what these restrictions are going to be. We would
like to also be informed as early as possible.
Jerry Flannery: Number one, any development that is in the Town prior to
this code going through, speaking of the development code criteria and not
this document, would be in place and not susceptible to restrictions. If
restrictions were even applied, that is something that we need to clarify at the
development stage, where we establish the criteria with our Town Attorney's
office. The document for the development code that sets these restrictions
will be available as soon as we finalize the draft in house. When we route it,
everyone will have a chance to comment on it. These will be scheduled for
Public Hearings at Planning Commission and the Town Council so there will
be ample time for public discussion. More than likely, in these types of
things, we have brought them before the Planning Commission and the Town
Council as information first and action some time after that. There will be
some time in the future for public comment, as well as your input.
Vice Mayor Sutton: You just kind of summarized what I was going to ask
you. This looks like one of those government things where you pass it and
figure it out later. Are we being premature in approving this? Could we wait
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that they wanted to recommend that this corridor be set as a scenic
viewshed.
Herb Kai: Do we have any problems, right now, as far as Silverbell Road?
Are we getting flack from people, or are people complaining they don't like a
particular project in the development? Do we have a problem that we need
to be addressing directly? I hate to get bureaucracy on top of bureaucracy
and create jobs.
Jerry Flannery: I am not one to want to create bureaucracy, we were
attempting to follow direction. I did not forget Council's direction, it just took
my staff time, and getting staff on board to get this ball rolling, to get it to this
point. To answer your question specifically, there have not been specific
problems with Silverbell being a scenic corridor. As stated earlier,
Continental Ranch has a scenic corridor established within the plan that is
set back from Silverbell. Pima Farms, across the street from Continental
Ranch, also has viewsheds and scenic corridor designation. The language
and verbiage in that is a little bit weaker, so it is not as clear on the other side
of the road. When development comes in, there are some that are looking at
the west side of Silverbell that have not been established or built yet. If they
are in house, they would be able to develop, as long as the criteria haven't
been established yet. The question comes up whether this supersedes the
specific plan. That is not a question that we have even posed to Mr. Hochuli
and he has not had time to research it since we haven't asked him.
Herb Kai: My personal opinion is that the Town is doing a good job in
development along Silverbell Road. It seems like if we are having a problem,
we should try to address it. I don't know if we want to get the cart before the
horse.
Jerry Flannery: Staff does not have a problem with a continuance on this
until we bring back the viewshed criteria as a development code. We simply
wanted to get this done and gave this as a staff priority because it had been
floating out there for a long time. This is why it is in front of you tonight. If
there is a desire to continue, we are certainly open to that and would not
have a problem with it.
Vice Mayor Sutton: I think the ball got rolling when we got this on. For
several of us, including myself, the May 25, 1995 date was before I was even
on. I think we do have the ball rolling and all of us have expressed some
concerns. There are some people from the development community, as well
as some residents, who might want to get on board and give their input.
A motion was made by Vice Mayor Sutton, seconded by Herb Kai, to
continue this item so it can be put in a package and we can approve it with
conditions and criteria. The motion carried 6/0.
Councilwoman Sherry Millner arrived, 7:45 PM. Sandy Groseclose arrived.
Continued on with item IX. C.
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concerns. There are some people from the development community, as well
as some residents, who might want to get on board and give their input.
A motion was made by Vice Mayor Sutton, seconded by Herb Kai, to
continue this item so it can be put in a package and we can approve it with
conditions and criteria. The motion carried 6/0.
Councilwoman Sherry Millner arrived, 7:45 PM. Sandy Groseclose arrived.
Continued on with item IX. C.
E. Resolution No. 98-16 - Selection of Partners for Strategic Action (PSA)
as Town Consultant for the Arizona Department of Commerce State
Development Fund -Capital Improvements Grant
Hurvie Davis: We were awarded a $10,000 grant from the Department of
Commerce to help us pay for our first Capital Improvement Program. Mr.
Flannery has taken the lead on this and what we have before you this
evening is the authorization to move with the consultant selection. I ask Mr.
Flannery to give you a quick overview.
Jerry Flannery: The Town did receive a grant of $10,000 from the
Department of Commerce, whereby we are matching that amount. We were
required to go along with a request for proposal process, whereby we did
interview two submittals. They made presentations to myself, the Finance
Director, the Principal Planner and an engineering representative from
Collins Pina. Both were very qualified, however, one (Partners for Strategic
Action) had a vast amount of experience in CIP's. We have only listed a few
of them. They are partnering with Willdan Associates, who typically is their
main competition for CIP's. Together, they are teaming up to do the Town's.
Their are staff members on PSA that were part of the Department of
Commerce staff when the legislation was originally written. In fact, one of the
staff members, I believe, wrote the requirement. They are very
knowledgeable. As Mr. Davis said, staff is asking for the contract to be
designated for PSA and we will get on this as soon as Council gives us
direction to.
Mike Reuwsaat: This is a comment. I don't want to slow the process, but I
do like the processes in developing. In particular, I like the citizen survey
because I think it does a better job of finding out what the average citizen, as
a consensus, really wants, rather than what a typical public hearing meets. If
possible, I would like the park master plan contract to dove tail into this so
that some of the recreation and park development issues are put onto the
same survey instrument. That way we are not just held to a public hearing
here and a community meeting, but we utilize that instrument to come up
with a little more information so they can develop the Marana Park Master
Plan.
Jerry Flannery: The selection board, that consisted of the members I
mentioned, completely agree with that. We, also, like the presentation of a
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survey. We felt that would precipitate much more into the community than
public hearings because CIP public hearings don't get a lot of attendance, a
lot of people don't know what it is. We felt this was a good approach, as well.
A motion was made by Mike Reuwsaat, seconded by Vice Mayor Sutton, to
approve Resolution No. 98-16, awarding Partners of Strategic Action, Inc. as
Town Consultant for the State Development Fund - Capital Improvement
Program Grant, pursuant to the staffs recommendations. The motion carried
7/0.
F. State Legislative Matters - Discussion/Action/Direction
Mayor Harn: This was a suggestion by Councilman Reuwsaat. I think it is a
very appropriate suggestion. The Council should be made aware of the
legislative issues that are before the State Legislature. These are put
together for us by our lobbyist, which is the Association League of Cities and
Towns. We will be having this item on the agenda on a monthly basis. Are
there any matters that the Council would like to have.
Mike Reuwsaat: Usually the blue sheet is the most critical matters that
affect us. I would like to make a motion taking the League of Cities' position
on the items in blue, in that those things be sent to our legislators, ASAP,
before committee vote, full house, or senate vote. If it is not applicable, like
the Hospitality tax being preempted, of course we don't have to do it. In
particular the Electric Deregulation Bill and the Cable TV Hooks are really of
concern in terms of what it does to our ability to regulate our own right-of-
ways and easements. They are actually revenue reductions in our ability to
raise funds for the Town of Marana.
Herb Kai: I thought it might be appropriate, since we are on legislative
matters, to have Brad DeSpain come forward and give the Council a briefing
on two bills that are being presented. A particular senator and a bill
regarding water withdraw from our aquifer. Number two would be the
recharge water and the recharge areas that Marana is right in the middle of.
Brad DeSpain: There are several bills, but these two bills have considerable
concern to us, as a Town. Senator Day's bill probably has more concern
with Avra Valley than it does the Town of Marana, although some of our
aquifer recharge occurs from the Raleigh Wash and Avra Valley area into the
Santa Cruz and the lower section of our town. That bill would allow a city, in
particular the City of Tucson, the ability to withdraw water from that valley
without it being determined that it was their service area. It would allow them
to take aggregate their wells together in a specific location. The Jarvis
decisions that were predecessors to the ground water bill required the City to
retire agricultural land in the Avra Valley area. Then they were required to
withdraw water from that land that was retired, they could not withdraw along
Sandario Road or in a given area. That created some problems for them, as
they got to studying to determine the cost of pipelines and such. Now they
want to develop a well field of 28 wells in the mile wide Sandario area, where
the recharge project is occurring. It can cause an area of influence of decline
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MARANA TOWN COUNCIL
FEBRUARY 17,1998
that could possibly create problems for Avra Water Coop or the other
residents that live in the area. To start with, in the first few years, they are
only going to withdraw 10,000 acre feet. They will be recharging in the
neighborhood of 30,000. They will, eventually, recharge 30,000 per year in a
ten year period. After the first ten years, they will withdraw 60,000 acre feet.
One of the concerns we have discussed and we have met with the CMID, the
City of Tucson (Dennis Ruhl), is some of the well designs. They are of
greater concern to us than the recharge withdraw project because in the
recharge areas they are going to talk and designing the wells so they are not
perforated until they get to 500 feet. Then they are perforated from 500 feet
to 1,200 feet (the bottom 700 feet). Recharge is not occurring in that area,
recharge is occurring from where the recharge basins are down to the static
water level is, now around 300 feet. They are really not going to be
withdrawing recharge water. They do say that a cone of influence can be
great enough to influence that. If they were really designing it with recovery
of recharge water, they would perforate the top portion and leave the bottom
portion blank where they weren't pumping the higher quality water from the
lower aquifer. That bill is before committee in the morning. I talked with
Michael Curtis, CMID, and his attorney, Bill Sullivan, monitors that closely.
They will be in touch with us, Bob Condit, CMID, will be up at the committee
meeting in the morning, as well as John Kai, Avra Valley Irrigation District. If
additional help and support is needed, they call and I will usually run up and
see what I can add to it. I personally feel it will come out of committee,
Senator Day is committed to the City of Tucson to do that. She is also
greatly concerned because the City of Tucson told her that everybody had
been talked to and nobody had been talked to. Tucson, again, proceeded on
their own basis, as they usually do, to do those things to their most benefit.
However, we had a meeting with Dennis Ruhl last Tuesday and we will meet
with Dennis and the City of Tucson next Tuesday (by we I mean CMID, Avra
Water Coop, Avra Valley Irrigation and Drainage District and the Town of
Marana) to talk about ways we can cooperate and perhaps change this bill
so it will be amenable to all of us and we can support it. Whether that occurs
or not, I don't know, but is a step in the right direction and we will be
obtaining some cooperation from the City of Tucson that we have not had
before.
Herb Kai: I would like to add, before you leave, that I agree with you that
impact would be minimal to the Town of Marana. However, the impact to
Avra Valley Water Coop should be a major impact. I think Marana being in
the water business, we have to support good wide ground water decisions.
That is why the Town should make an effort to getting things going down the
right way.
Brad DeSpain: I totally agree with you and the southerly western
boundaries of out Town, out by the high school, will eventually be affected by
that. If we develop water in that area, our Palo Verde system could be
affected by that. We do need to be involved and support those other water
users in our area because there is a time when we are going to want their
support. If it is good for the basin and the area, we need to be in support of
it.
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Vice Mayor Sutton: Brad, with Hugh being our listed lobbyist and our water
attorney, is he involved up there or is he keeping his eye on this?
Brad DeSpain: Hugh has not been involved other than telephone
conversations with me. He is tied up, somewhat, with his job and obligation
to the City of Nogales. He did explain to me on Monday that that has
changed and he is now on a retainer hourly basis with them instead of a
contract. I don't know if that is actual, but that is what he said is occurring. I
think our manager and assistant manager has been involved with that as
much as anybody, along with our connection with CMID and the firm of Mike
Curtis, in helping with some of that lobbying and such. Hugh could probably
be involved more but it takes him longer to get there than it does me.
Mayor Harn: Mr. DeSpain, would it be an advantage to fax a letter from the
Mayor and Council to Ann Day's office.
Brad DeSpain: I believe that would be very important and essential. I think
the comment that Councilman Reuwsaat made that we can pick out some of
these bills and have you write and sign a letter and then we can get it to the
proper committee chairman. This would mean a lot to us. There is another
bill that I will discuss in a few minutes that is probably of even more concern
to me than any of these others, that is bill 1202.
Mike Hein: On this I see two options. I am grateful that this item is on the
agenda so we can take action like this in short order for items which may
impact us. One of the things we can do is for the Council or the Manager's
office to send a letter to the City of Tucson and copy Senator Day. This letter
would express our concern that we do not know what is going on and we
have tried to contact them but have not heard anything back through formal
channels. Brad attended a meeting which was called at the last minute. The
other option, as you said, is to send a letter directly to Senator Day. Either
way the letter would include language that we have concerns since we are
not exactly sure what the City has planned and we have not been
approached previously. I, too, expect it to come out of committee. I don't
know how far it will get afterwards, I certainly don't think it will get very far
without an amendment. Friday, one of the things I do is sit on the State
Water Resources Advisory Board, we will be discussing this item this as well.
The State has a different position than maybe I do. That is what I would say
is to instruct us to send a letter to the City of Tucson or Senator Day, or both.
Brad DeSpain: I believe Mr. Davis wrote a letter to Mr. Gutierrez because I
talked with Hurvie about it prior and believe he did correspond with him about
this bill, did you not?
Hurvie Davis: I contacted Mr. Gutierrez's office, City Manager of Tucson,
when you were on your way up to Phoenix to appear before the committee to
let City of Tucson know we were not aware of what was going on and that we
were sending representatives up to represent our interests before the
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committee. I left that message with Mr. Gutierrez's office and he never
returned my call.
Mike Hein: If I could suggest a letter to Mr. Gutierrez from Mr. Davis and a
letter from the Mayor to Senator Day stating that we have concerns about not
knowing what is going on and our concerns involve quantity and quality
issues in the aquifer.
Mayor Harn: How early do you think that will come before the committee?
Brad DeSpain: It is my understanding that will occur at 8:00 in the morning.
That is when the committee convenes, whether that is the first item they have
I don't know. Mr. Mike Curtis and Bill Sullivan will be involved.
Mayor Harn: I would think we need to have it to Senator Day's office at
about 7:30 AM. We have got to get it to her office before she goes into
committee, otherwise she won't see it.
Brad DeSpain: I spent some considerable time when we were up there the
last week in January with Trico Electrical Coop on legislative rally on the
electrical deregulation bill. I had the opportunity to talk with Senator Day
about the bill and I talked to her about our concerns. I think a follow up
would certainly ring a bell with her that we are still and concerned and
gravely more concerned.
Ed Honea: The City of Tucson had been talking Wong Farms about putting
a recharge project at Avra Valley and the canal, at one time. They were
talking about buying some land there and doing some recharge. If we allow
something like this bill to go through, it is going to render our assured water
supply worthless. What they will do is recharge in the center of town. They
drill their wells down to 1200 feet and pump the good water and our citizens
are going to end up drinking CAP water. Also, last meeting, I asked that the
Town prepare an ordinance that disallows the pumping of water out of the
Town of Marana for use in another municipality. Since we have a State
assured water supply, that may give us some grounds to do that. I think we
need to, pretty quickly, put something like that together to try to protect us.
They are looking at doing some of those recharge projects in our community,
as well. It might be in the Valley now, but we could be next.
Brad DeSpain: In my conversation with Mr. Holub yesterday morning, he is
to draft and have for us an ordinance by Friday that deals with storage and
recovery permits and fees within the town boundaries of Marana. He has
had it together for awhile but he just hadn't finished it up. He did commit to
me that he would try to do that and we will follow up with that. If not, I vowed
that I would be on his doorstep until we got it. I think it is very essential. This
senate bill 1202 that I was talking about, being introduced by Senator
Conner, talks about that relating to underground water storage, savings and
replenishment. What that bill will do, unless we are through with senate bill
that dealt with Senator Day, is allow another municipality to come into
another municipality and withdraw water if they have recharged their. This a
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graver concern to me and is the point that Councilman Honea is making, I
think. We certainly need to get a letter to Senator Conner that we do oppose
this senate bill, 1202. It has been drifting along fairly quiet, kind of unnoticed,
but it was called to our attention by Mike Curtis and Assistant Manager Mike
Hein that this thing was servicing. The other part that really bothers me is
that it gives the water director, the State director, the power to supersede you
as a town or a municipality of allowing that to happen. That gravely concerns
me. We might be fairly safe with Rita Pearson, she is pretty practical and
understands, but we never know who the next one might be. If that occurs,
we could really be in trouble. I think we really need to oppose Senate Bill
1202. As I understand it, that is proposed by the City of Tucson. That would
cover some of the in lieu recharge on the Wong property and any other
recharge that they are going to participate in. Sahuarita has the same
problem with the Pima Mine Road Recharge Project.
Mayor Harn: When does that go through?
Brad DeSpain: I don't know when it is being heard. I can find out. I have
depended on my association with Mike Curtis to help watch these things and
let us know when they are coming and if they are going to come out of
committee or go to committee for hearing. I will talk to him tonight when I get
home and he will let me know what all is on the agenda tomorrow morning.
Mayor Harn: If the Council wishes, we will address that
Brad DeSpain: There are several other bills that deal with water. If you
would like to take time I can quickly cover them. There is always a water bill
called the omnibus water bill and that is what everybody is supposed to be in
agreement with and that is basically being pushed by the Department of
Water Resources. I don't think there is much involved that would affect us.
It deals mostly with Colorado River water and they are trying to tighten some
loop holes where even private water companies within a service area of a
town would have to contract for CAP water from that municipality as a
renewable resource so they can get an assured water supply. Where they
are going is that eventually they are going to have everybody serving CAP
water direct. They want to create an atmosphere, or a code, where it shows
that the State of Arizona is diligently trying to utilize all our Colorado River
water, to protect it from Nevada and California. I don't see a problem with
that, there may be something in there that I don't understand. Again, we
have relied a lot on the water attorneys from irrigation districts (E.D. and I.D.)
and CMID to cover that. 1202 has been covered. Senate bill 1266 deals
with back flow control for DEQ. That affects the town water department. I
don't think there is anything bad in there but that is going to require the public
water system to implement a program to control contamination from back
flow, back siphoning and cross -contamination of potable water. We are on a
process of that now. The only customer we have that that would affect is the
print shop here in town. They do have an air gap between their water system
and the potable water system so that we don't have to have a back flow
prevention on that. As we go along we will to do that. Your sprinkler system,
here at Town, has back flow preventers on it and we will have them on the
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park to prevent any possibility of irrigation water being sucked back into the
system and contaminating it. Senate Bill 1289, Appropriations for Small
Water Systems, says for any water system, even public water systems,
serving less than 10,000 persons there is an appropriation of $600,000 to do
the centralized monitoring program where they are going to do our water
quality testing. The State DEQ will do that and we have to pay to have it
done, but there is a $600,000 appropriation to get that started. They are
toying with an idea that it may end up costing us $4.20 per customer in order
for them to handle all of those phase Il, phase V and water quality tests they
are going to have to do. They will let us know as this goes along but we will
probably have to budget for that next year or the following year to cover
those costs. I believe that is everything that deals with the water. I apologize
for taking some time, unless Mr. Hein has something else I need to cover.
Vice Mayor Sutton: I wanted Mike, or whomever can, to come in on where
that annexation bill is that we were working on last week.
Mike Hein: There are several annexation incorporation bills all over, being
merged and changed. The one the Vice Mayor is discussing is actually the
annexation bill. Many people are overlooking that because it doesn't have
the word "incorporation" but some of them end in the same result. The last
thing I heard is that the annexation bill would be held some more and I have
heard, again, that it is not really going any place. There are some other
incorporation bills that are moving forward which may indirectly impact us.
Obviously the annexation bill would greatly impact us because it would limit
our ability to annex areas next to occupied residential. It was very strangely
written, it was written by a layperson, really, and submitted. The League and
some other communities have been very actively involved. I think even
Showlow and some other communities have actually gone to the hearings
and had it held over.
Vice Mayor Sutton: Correct me if you know differently, but I understand
that Tucson has voiced strong opposition to it and the reason it was held is
that it is at a 4/4 vote in the committee it was in and they are trying to get it
pushed to another committee. That is one that I am trying to stay abreast of
and I know that you are too. I know there are a lot of incorporations but there
is one with 10 amendments on it already. They are really getting convoluted
up there so I would like to be kept aware of what is going on with those.
Mike Hein: The committee that it was in, Hartkin, was supposedly the most
friendly to issues like that. So, there are certainly some issues and some key
members have changed their perspective. There has been some recent
newspaper articles talking about that as well. We are trying to follow them as
best we can. Unfortunately, some of the information comes to us after the
fact because we don't have anybody really up there. Brad has been a
tremendous asset to the Town. I am supposed to be in the loop on a lot of
the water legislation and he has heard it prior to me. There has also been
members of the community who have calling me at home and other places
saying, "Hey, did you know about this one?" And I have to say, "No I didn't."
It is a big year. I appreciate, again, having this on the agenda and giving us
18
direction allows a little more latitude and legitimacy as we approach
legislators explaining that our Council has already discussed it and taken a
somewhat formal action.
Mayor Harn: If there is nothing more on that then we will go to item G.
G. Pima Association of Governments Regional Council Meeting Agenda -
Review for Discussion and Direction
Roxanne Ziegler: Mr. Davis, on the Air Quality update, does that have to do
with vapor recovery?
Hurvie Davis: Yes, that is correct. As kind of an update to the management
committee, I did miss the management committee meeting this past week
due to an emergency. I did talk to Mr. Tom Swanson, PAG, for an update to
where we are. I think I may have mentioned to the Council that the PAG
Regional Council will be acting on the Phase II Vapor Recovery on the 25`h of
March at the PAG Regional Council meeting . It will be scheduled for this
Mayor and Council one week prior to that for your action so you can direct
Mayor Harn to vote whichever way the Council wishes to vote.
Roxanne Ziegler: That is what I wanted to know. I want to make sure that
we vote "no."
Hurvie Davis: We tentatively have it scheduled to come before you on
March 17f°, one week before the PAG Regional Council meeting on March
25th.
Mayor Harn: In the agenda meeting, we decided to put it a week in advance
so we were not the first out there, we wanted to see what other communities
were going to do.
Hurvie Davis: Item 12 is Supervisor Boyd's request to PAG. Chairman of
the Pima County Board of Supervisors, Mike Boyd, sent a memorandum to
Tom Swanson date January 201h and reads as follows:
Would you be able to prepare a presentation for the Board of Supervisors' February 241h meeting that
tells of the projected population growth of Pima County by 2020 and where that growth is likely to
occur. Please include, with that information, the anticipated infrastructure cost for the growth
anticipated and what are the anticipated revenues to local jurisdictions of that growth.
That in itself is a monumental task, needless to say. Mr. Swanson
responded and basically said the only thing they have anywhere along those
lines is information relative to the metropolitan transportation plan and they
will be glad to share that information with the County Administrator's office.
You have probably read about that in the paper, setting urban growth
boundaries. That may or may not have some significant consequences for
the Town of Marana. With that, I don't think their was anything significant on
the agenda, other than the Title IV, Social Services Title 20 Plan, and the
issue that we dealt with last year. Apparently this year, we don't have that
problem, we are following the committee's recommendation and so forth.
19
Mayor Harn: I belong to the committee that does the social service planning
for the PAG Regional Council. For a number of years the planning
commission for social services has just kind of went along every year and
approved the same old plan. That wasn't too bad when there was new
moneys coming down from the Feds for new projects and increases. Those
moneys have kind of dried up and the committee has looked at every
program very carefully and tried to cut back in areas where they thought the
money was not being put to the best use and made increases in some areas.
While you make changes to any kind plan, like that, you affect some
agencies dollars that they have coming in. It often gets very controversial.
Last year we had a political figure in our community come to a regular PAG
Regional Council, move off the appointed member and put together a
process which deleted the changes that the planning commission for social
services approved. We are trying to make sure that doesn't happen again
this year. That committee works very hard and spends a lot of time studying
these issues and members of the PAG Regional Council probably have very
little understanding of this. 1, personally this time, will try to get out and talk
to some of the Regional members and see if I can't get a few licks in
advance.
Hurvie Davis: I would like to make one more comment relative to item 14,
Metropolitan Transportation Plan Update, This morning I met with Mr.
Swanson, instead of with PAG, the tentative adoption for the new
metropolitan transportation plan will be scheduled for some time in May by
the PAG Regional Council and towards the end of March it is PAG's desire to
get together as a quorum with all of the elected officials from all of the
jurisdictions in this region and bring everyone update and get their input on
the transportation plan. Hopefully, we can go forward to adopt a
transportation plan and move forward with that transportation plan, rather
than putting it up on a shelf, like we have done most metropolitan
transportation plans. We do make some progress but for the most part we
have always been under funded and what we looked at in projection of 20
years will never become a reality. It is simply a shortfall of revenues to fund
it and the divisiveness on the transportation plan. As many of you know, the
%2 cent sales tax for transportation in Pima County has been defeated several
times by the voters because we have different community leaders saying
different things through out the Valley. We need to come together.
Hopefully, this quorum in March will be a giant step toward bringing together
that consensus they need. With that, I don't think there is anything further
that is really significant here.
H. EXECUTIVE SESSION - Pursuant to A.R.S. 38-431.01 (A)(4) for
Discussion and Consultation with the Town Attorney to Consider the
Town's Position and Instruct its Attorney Regarding Li'l Abners
A motion was made by Vice Mayor Sutton, seconded by Ed Honea, to go
into Executive Session after a five minute recess. The motion carried 710.
I. Possible Action - Town's Position Regarding Li'l Abners
20
A motion was made by Vice Mayor Sutton, seconded by Mike Reuwsaat, to
continue this item indefinitely, until our attorney brings us back the
information we requested. The motion carried 610. Councilwoman Millner
was not present for the vote.
Sherry Millner: I met with Tucson Council Member, Shirley Scott, and her
new aid last Friday for lunch and we discussed the upcoming National
League of Cities and Towns that I will be attending. I guess most of their
council is going so it should be a real good information time. Today, a few of
us went to Phoenix for the Peter Low Success Seminar. It was pretty good
and 1 think it is something that 1 think everyone needs to be motivated on.
The speakers they had were very good and I look forward to it again next
year.
Roxanne Ziegler: The reason I asked about that vapor recovery is I called
Jackie Gladden, who gave us a letter in our packet. I got back to her and
told her we were going to suggest that the Mayor carry the message that we
are not for vapor recovery. She was happy to hear that since she owns the
Exxon up here. Dick Gear did some real nice reporting here. I informed Dick
Gear that there could be a high tech company wanting to come to Marana. I
just happened to start working for them yesterday. They are looking to move
to Marana, they are in Oro Valley right now, and Dick Gear is working on it.
They are looking down by Catalina Coatings and some other places. The
BAC is getting a new member, Mr. John Rodriguez. He is the new Foothills
Environments, Inc., here in Marana. We wants to come onto the BAC so we
will probably be bringing him before you. I think he would be good. At the
Continental Ranch Homeowners Association meeting, one of my favorite
meetings with Tim, the Town of Marana's name was used in vain. The
parking there is atrocious, about 10 parking places for 1400 people. They
have been talking for the eight years I have been out there about building a
parking lot right beside the center. That land is owned by the Mormon
Church and for the last two years we have been trying to get SVP and Del
Webb to do an exchange of land.
Mayor Harn: I want to thank everybody for being so kind about the situation
with my son and he is finally home and trying to pull the pieces of his life
back together again. I thank you all for being so kind. I want to thank the
Vice Mayor for taking charge and doing a good job of it. I pledge that I will
again take on my duties and not try to lay them off on someone else and
begin to live again.
Vice Mayor Sutton: A couple of weeks ago I had the extreme pleasure,
although the weather was rather yucky, of meeting with Mike Hein and Jerry
Flannery along with PGA Player of the Year for last year, Tom Lamen, up at
the Gallery Course. They had a little bit of a press conference. Only one
writer came to try the elements but we got to talk with Tom a little bit and see
their excitement about the course that they are doing up there and what type
of mark it is going to do for the Town. It is going to help us with our
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furthering endeavor to improve and enhance our public image of what is in
Marana. It is a real big step for us and they are real proud. I even catch
myself sometimes saying we are going to be the best course anywhere in
Tucson and without a second pause I say Marana. We will get Tom Lamen
on ESPN saying that the number one course next year will be in Marana and
we will tape that and play it over and over. After that I met with Duff Huron, a
member of the Executive Board on GTEC (I think he is stepping down), and
he is another friend of ours and he will let us know when bills at the
legislature have an affect on us. If it has an affect on GTEC, with the tax bill
they are trying put through, it really mean some nice things for us. If they get
the tax structure they are trying for, it puts Arizona in a bigger circle and
without us having a property tax, it makes us look that much better. Anything
they get for Tucson helps Tucson a lot and helps us even more. He is a
good friend to have in GTEC and in Duff. I got to read a book to some
Kindergartners at Estes Elementary School. All I can say is be sure of what
ask and the question that you ask because they will answer you. It was
amazing to see the lights going off in those kids' head. I had a great time
doing it but you ask one question and there are eighteen different answers
and everyone is trying to talk louder than the next person. I had a great time
and advise anyone to do it. It can remind you, and it forewarned me of when
my kids are closely approaching that age. It was quite entertaining for myself
as well. I met with Mr. Rossi, who continues to be a friend of the Town, and
he has some conflict with some of the bills that are at the legislature but he
will still let us know what is going on. I bent his ear a little bit to see how the
annexation and incorporation bills were going. He could not take a position
on them because of different clients he has being on one or both sides of
those bills. He continues to be a friend of ours and if there is general
information we need to know he is there for us.
Ed Honea: I met with Dave Atler to discuss the Senior Center that will be
built as part of a bigger complex at the park, in expanding our recreational
facilities. That is a pet project of mine and 1 am trying to push it along. It
seems to be going really well and I am pleased with the overall picture of the
expansion of the park, with the Senior Center in particular. Council member
Ziegler and I met with the Water Committee last week and we have a really
good water committee. The people are very knowledgeable and interested in
the community. We have a really good cross section of people from all over
the area and they show up. The meeting went real well. We talked about
Logan Hills Water Company and Diamond Estates. I don't know whatever
happened with that but the water committee was interested but they weren't
going to give the farm away. They have some good people who really are
concerned about our community. It is very eye opening meeting to go to and
I enjoyed it a lot.
Roxanne Ziegler: I wanted to say something about the monuments. Has
anyone seen them? Down in Continental Ranch they used to have those
signs, they have the monuments up now and they look very nice. It has all of
the builders listed on it and there are about three of them now instead of
twenty signs.
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X.
FEBRUARY 17,1998
Ed Honea: The Chamber has a new sign. It is a very attractive sign, it is
very well done. Drive by and take a look at it. You can almost read the sign
from 1-10.
Hurvie Davis: I had another meeting with the Abrahms, Harold and Jerry,
who operate over at the Avra Valley Airport. I went down to their manufacturing
facility on Romero Road and continued our discussion about the airport
operation and so forth for the Town. I had a tour of the facility and it was very
impressive. It is a first class operation. I believe we have them scheduled to
come before the Council during the first meeting in March to make a
presentation and address the Council regarding the airport operations. The
progress on the I-10/Cortaro interchange has been slowed, delayed, because of
the wet weather we have been having. By the time it dries out, it rains again.
That is probably going to be running about a month late on the schedule that
they originally anticipated. I know a number of you have been concerned with
Lon Adams Road. I have been after staff with the problems we have had over
there with standing water. Supposedly, the project was designed to allow the
water to flow but it was not constructed properly at the driveways. Instead of
being swelled they have a crown on them. Obviously, we can't get in to correct
that until the weather dries up the ground. I did have the crew go down to Grier
Road, today, to shovel out the little trench from the little school driveways down
to Grier Road because it was just dirt piled up between the furthest driveway (the
closest one to Grier) and the ditch at Grier so they opened up a little drain to run
some of that water off. We will be getting on that soon, if weather permits. I
have some bad news and some good news. The bad news is that our January
sales tax was up 14% over our budget estimates. The good news is that our
building and development fees are up 67% over our budget estimates.
FUTURE AGENDA ITEMS
Mike Reuwsaat: I would like to see any grant application that goes out on
behalf of the Town come preliminary before the Council for resolution of approval
and support to go with the grant application. That way we know what is going
out and being requested on our behalf. That is typical for just about every place
I have been. It also adds some weight to the grant application. The second
thing is, in reading through and working on the Community Facilities Districts I
would like an opportunity to meet with Mr. Hein and our bond attorney, who kind
of wrote the book on it, and look at it. There are a couple of issues that we need
to have resolved but I believe that if things would work out, a Community
Facilities District and this Council sitting as the Board would have the ability to
levy the advalorem for operation and maintenance of new developments. This
would provide us revenue sources specific to those areas to maintain the roads,
water, infrastructure, parks, etc. that we don't have now in the entire community
because all we have is retail tax. There are some legal issues we need to look
at. It is something that is in some discussion with some of the developers in the
community that they are amenable to. As soon as we make sure that it is viable
or if there are some hitches, I would like to bring it in as a workshop to the
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Council and look at it as an ongoing revenue source or potential for new
development in Marana.
Mayor Harn: The first Community Facilities District in the State was in Marana.
Vice Mayor Sutton: Hurvie, do we put revision dates and times when we
change a blue sheet on agenda item. I did not see one today on item C and 1
had two agenda items sitting in front of me at the same time. Unless 1 missed it,
there wasn't a date on it and I wasn't sure which one was correct.
Hurvie Davis: We do that as a matter of routine
Vice Mayor Sutton: From some issues we talked about tonight, and an issue
we had last year, I don't know if it is time for us to have a lobbyist but it is time for
us to figure out a way not to have to rely on people we know to tell us about bills
that affect us. I think it is time for us to start looking at, if not a lobbyist, someone
that is already up there that we can possibly retain to let us know when
something could affect us. 1 know that the League does that to an extent.
Maybe we could look into it and see what our options are, it does not have to be
an agenda item. With Mike's workshop and a bunch of the issues we are facing
right now, 1 hadn't heard any word of a retreat and I was wondering if we were
planning one of those for this year or not.
Sherry Millner: I have been talking with Kim Holloway, Principal of the
Alternative Schools. Evidently, we have quite a few homeless teenagers that live
out here and 1 am finding out that teachers are paying their own money to clothe
some of these children and provide transportation so they can go to school. I
don't know where they are living but I was wondering if the Town could possibly
help out somewhat. I am willing to give $50 a month to the school so they can
provide clothing for these children. Because we have about 14 children that are
homeless, in Marana alone, where are they sleeping? 1 know they could use
some low income housing, like Tucson does, and I don't know if there is anything
in Marana that we might be able to help with. I thought maybe we could check
into that. I told her I would help her out.
Ed Honea: We had given direction to staff to start working on these developer
requirements for specific plans, which 1 think we should do away with, and
development plans and things of that nature. If that flood protection goes in
within the next year, like they say it is, and with all of the trouble they are having
with the Pigmy Owl, the Pineapple Cactus and the snail, this farmland between
Continental Ranch and this Town Hall is just going to go crazy. If we don't get
some of these developments drawn out, we are going to fight them one at a
time, just like we did with La Mirage and all of the others. I don't know, has staff
done any of the preliminaries to start putting this thing together yet? 1 would like
to see something on that. Another thing, which was covered by Mr. Despain in
his discussion about some of the things that are in front of the legislature, I would
like to see this ordinance for not allowing pumping for another municipality out of
our municipality (or some regulation) by the next meeting. I think it is serious
enough that maybe we would want to get an ordinance passed prior to the State
Legislature taking any actions. I think that could be a point of law, on how we
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MINUTES OF REGULAR COUNCIL MEETING
MARANA TOWN COUNCIL
are doing with that. The third thing is, I have been talking with our acting Post
Master (we do have a new Post Master, the Post Master from Coolidge is
coming to Marana) and on March 25' he said Dick Gear was going to be
meeting with George Lopez who is the senior postal officials out of Phoenix,
along with Felix Guerrero and Jim Volpe, out of Tucson, to talk about the Cortaro
Post Office. I have complete confidence in Mr. Gear and like him a lot but I think
maybe we should have the Mayor and the Manager, and maybe even a little
dinner or something when Mr. Lopez comes down here. He makes the decision.
He made the decision that Heritage Highland area/Dove Mountain area would be
Marana mailing. He alone makes that decision. This is a tremendous,
tremendous opportunity that he is coming down here and is going to meet with
Mr. Gear. I think we should take it even further and that the Mayor and Manager
should be involved and we should be completely prepared with maps of our town
and some things we can show them about the location of the Post Office. He is
the gentleman that can say, "Yes, I can see that this needs to be a Marana Post
Office." Basically, he can make that decision. It is very, very important and I
think it is March 25`". The meeting is already scheduled but maybe we could
expand it. He is such an important individual in what we are trying to accomplish
that if we have maps and figures that show how many people live here and
where we are and what we want to do, and looks like we are really prepared and
know what we are talking about, it could have a very big influence on Mr. Lopez.
XI. ADJOURNMENT
A motion was made by Vice Mayor Sutton, seconded by Mike Reuwsaat, to
adjourn. The motion passed 7/0.
I hereby certify that the foregoing minutes are the true and correct minutes of the
Marana Town Council held on February 17, 1998. 1 further certify that a quorum
was present.
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